People often point to the old testament to show how wicked God was for wiping people out with plagues, war and so on and this bothered me and so I prayed about it.
In my prayer I saw myself playing the Sims. I had spent a lot of time building up my neigbourhood. I had worked hard to keep peoples happiness levels up despite all the frustrations they face in the game. I had a happy neighbourhood. Couples were having babies left right and centre and all my sims had good jobs and were increasing their wealth in line with their needs. There were many friendships and lots of love.
Then I saw one of my favorite sims seem to detach itself from the commands I was instructing it with. It took on life of it's own. In my vision the Sim looked at me and said "Mmm, it would be good to be like you and know everything. I do not want you to look after me anymore, I want to go my own way here and do what I want for a change."
I immediately became afraid for the Sim in question and I became afraid for the other Sim's in question. I was the one who had spent so much time building this neighbourhood up. What would this sim do now that he had free will?"
The sim in my vision, decided that he would forget going to work and steal instead. He then thought it might be good to go and muscle in on the other sim's wives. He then thought he would kill people who stood in his way. He then convinced other sims to follow him in his path of destruction. In my vision the whole neighbourhood fell apart and everything I had built up was destroyed. God said to me "Why didn't you intervene?"
I said "What could I do?", He said "Remove the threat to your neighbourhood."
I said "But he was one of my favorite sims. I had spent soooo much time getting him to a state that was happy!"
God Said "Is he happy now?"
I saw the sim again and he had the largest house and had lots of wives and everything material in the game and I said "He seems happy enough" and God said "And everyone else?" and I said "No, no one else is happy. They are afraid of that sim." and God said "How long will you be patient with your favorite sim? Will he repent do you think?", Then God said "Tell him you will delete him if he does not repent." and so in my vision I saw myself saying to the little sim "If you do not stop this wickedness I will have to delete you. You are a bad apple and you have ruined my whole batch of good apples. Give up your wickedness and turn back to me and I will restore you."
The sim looked at me and then made a gesture showing me all that he had gotten for himself through going his own way.
I said to God "He is so proud of all that he has done himself that he will not give it up"
God said "Tell him again that you will delete him if he does not repent of this wickedness!" and so in my vision I turned once more to this wayward sim and said "Why do you persist in this foolishness? I have loved you and always taken care of you and even now I am pained to delete you, but your actions have affected everyone. You have turned others against me and now I have other sims whom I love with nothing at all and they are crying out to me for justice."
The wicked sim did not care and in my vision he said "I can do what I want. I have made this empire for myself and I did it without your help. When I was under your control I had much less than I have now."
Then I said to this sim "I chose your hair colour, I chose your clothes, I chose for you a beautiful wife and I made sure you were all fed. I gave you a house and I taught you to cook and to read and I gave you every good thing even children. I even chose you your name and this is how you repay me?"
The sim looked sad for a moment and said "What must I do to not be deleted by you?"
I said "I have never wanted to delete you but if you persist with this I will have no choice. Now that all the other sims are aware of my presence, they are all crying out for you to be deleted so that their lives may be restored to what they once were."
The sim began to cry and my heart went out to him. The sim said "I give up my own way. I give up my own life. I have sinned against you and all these other sims. I have ruined this neighbourhood and have even killed those that stood in my way. I have taken things that do not belong to me, even other sims wives who I subject to slavery here in a house that was not given me but rather I forced it's occupants out with fear of death.
My heart went out to the sim because of his contrition.
I said to God "My sim is sorry."
God smiled and said "Would you have deleted him if he was not for the sake of the others?"
I said "Yes" then I said "But this neighbourhood is ruined. Everything I loved has been destroyed or corrupted by this sims disobedience."
God said "Destroy the neighbourhood and build another one. Your sims may live in the new neighbourhood that you have built them."
I thanked God for His wisdom and humbly asked him to take control of my life so that I could be thankful for the good things I was given by him. God said "I have already done it" and I wept for joy.
peace
c20
Edit: I took this part from another thread because I thought it deserved a thread of it's own given that there is so much discussion around this subject.
In my prayer I saw myself playing the Sims. I had spent a lot of time building up my neigbourhood. I had worked hard to keep peoples happiness levels up despite all the frustrations they face in the game. I had a happy neighbourhood. Couples were having babies left right and centre and all my sims had good jobs and were increasing their wealth in line with their needs. There were many friendships and lots of love.
Then I saw one of my favorite sims seem to detach itself from the commands I was instructing it with. It took on life of it's own. In my vision the Sim looked at me and said "Mmm, it would be good to be like you and know everything. I do not want you to look after me anymore, I want to go my own way here and do what I want for a change."
I immediately became afraid for the Sim in question and I became afraid for the other Sim's in question. I was the one who had spent so much time building this neighbourhood up. What would this sim do now that he had free will?"
The sim in my vision, decided that he would forget going to work and steal instead. He then thought it might be good to go and muscle in on the other sim's wives. He then thought he would kill people who stood in his way. He then convinced other sims to follow him in his path of destruction. In my vision the whole neighbourhood fell apart and everything I had built up was destroyed. God said to me "Why didn't you intervene?"
I said "What could I do?", He said "Remove the threat to your neighbourhood."
I said "But he was one of my favorite sims. I had spent soooo much time getting him to a state that was happy!"
God Said "Is he happy now?"
I saw the sim again and he had the largest house and had lots of wives and everything material in the game and I said "He seems happy enough" and God said "And everyone else?" and I said "No, no one else is happy. They are afraid of that sim." and God said "How long will you be patient with your favorite sim? Will he repent do you think?", Then God said "Tell him you will delete him if he does not repent." and so in my vision I saw myself saying to the little sim "If you do not stop this wickedness I will have to delete you. You are a bad apple and you have ruined my whole batch of good apples. Give up your wickedness and turn back to me and I will restore you."
The sim looked at me and then made a gesture showing me all that he had gotten for himself through going his own way.
I said to God "He is so proud of all that he has done himself that he will not give it up"
God said "Tell him again that you will delete him if he does not repent of this wickedness!" and so in my vision I turned once more to this wayward sim and said "Why do you persist in this foolishness? I have loved you and always taken care of you and even now I am pained to delete you, but your actions have affected everyone. You have turned others against me and now I have other sims whom I love with nothing at all and they are crying out to me for justice."
The wicked sim did not care and in my vision he said "I can do what I want. I have made this empire for myself and I did it without your help. When I was under your control I had much less than I have now."
Then I said to this sim "I chose your hair colour, I chose your clothes, I chose for you a beautiful wife and I made sure you were all fed. I gave you a house and I taught you to cook and to read and I gave you every good thing even children. I even chose you your name and this is how you repay me?"
The sim looked sad for a moment and said "What must I do to not be deleted by you?"
I said "I have never wanted to delete you but if you persist with this I will have no choice. Now that all the other sims are aware of my presence, they are all crying out for you to be deleted so that their lives may be restored to what they once were."
The sim began to cry and my heart went out to him. The sim said "I give up my own way. I give up my own life. I have sinned against you and all these other sims. I have ruined this neighbourhood and have even killed those that stood in my way. I have taken things that do not belong to me, even other sims wives who I subject to slavery here in a house that was not given me but rather I forced it's occupants out with fear of death.
My heart went out to the sim because of his contrition.
I said to God "My sim is sorry."
God smiled and said "Would you have deleted him if he was not for the sake of the others?"
I said "Yes" then I said "But this neighbourhood is ruined. Everything I loved has been destroyed or corrupted by this sims disobedience."
God said "Destroy the neighbourhood and build another one. Your sims may live in the new neighbourhood that you have built them."
I thanked God for His wisdom and humbly asked him to take control of my life so that I could be thankful for the good things I was given by him. God said "I have already done it" and I wept for joy.
peace
c20
Edit: I took this part from another thread because I thought it deserved a thread of it's own given that there is so much discussion around this subject.
